OTT and live streaming platforms

Watching and listening, from the big streaming services to live streams and audio

During an IPL final, tens of millions of people watch the same match live on their phones at the same moment. That stream does not stop, even when everyone joins at once in the last over. Television has moved onto the internet, and a streaming service is now a large piece of software.

What a streaming service is made of

The apps

on phones, smart TVs and streaming sticks, each built for a different device.

The catalogue and recommendations

which decide what each viewer sees first.

Delivery

Video is sent from servers spread across the country, so that each viewer gets it from somewhere nearby.

Payment and ads

subscriptions, and ads placed in the stream.

Live events

the hardest part. Millions of people join in the same few minutes, and the stream must not freeze.

A streaming service is made of its catalogue and recommendations, payment and ads, delivery from servers near each viewer, and apps for each device, with live events the hardest part.

How streaming earns

Subscriptions

Viewers pay monthly for a catalogue of films and shows.

Ads

Some services are free, and earn from ads. Some offer free channels that play like television, over the internet.

Sport

Live sport, above all cricket in India, draws viewers and subscribers like nothing else.

Gifts and small payments

On live-stream apps, viewers buy virtual gifts for the hosts they watch, and the app keeps a share. Some apps charge for each short episode.

In India, prices are low and many viewers will not pay, so ads matter more than in richer countries.

The TV's own software. A smart TV runs an operating system, as a phone does. Some companies make that operating system and license it to TV brands. They earn mainly from the ads shown on the TV's home screen, and from a share of the subscriptions sold through it.

Streaming earns from subscriptions, ads, sport, and gifts and paid episodes, while the maker of a TV operating system earns from home-screen ads and a share of subscriptions.

India has one of the largest streaming audiences in the world. Several global services also run engineering centres here.

Every company named here has posted software engineering jobs in India. Famous companies that don't actively hire software engineers in India are left out.

This Market Segment has two sub-segments:

The big screens and the big services: TV operating systems, and services for film, sport and anime

Live streams, short dramas and audio: apps made for the phone

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The big screens and the big services
Live streams, short dramas and audio

The big screens and the big services

Television operating systems, streaming services for film, sport and anime, live television over the internet

The TV screen

Roku

with engineers in Bengaluru, makes the operating system that runs on its own streaming players and on the smart TVs of many brands. It also runs The Roku Channel, a free streaming service paid for by ads. Its Bengaluru centre is one of its largest outside America. Roku has the most job postings in this Industry Vertical.

India's largest broadcaster

JioStar

with engineers in Bengaluru, was formed in 2024, when Reliance's Viacom18 and Disney's Star India merged. It runs Indian television channels and live sport. (More on it in Market Segment 32.4, Broadcast technology.)

JioHotstar

is JioStar's streaming service. It carries the Indian Premier League to more viewers at once than almost any other stream in the world.

JioStar was formed in 2024 when Reliance's Viacom18 and Disney's Star India merged; it runs television channels and live sport, and JioHotstar is its streaming service.

Services for film, sport and anime

Crunchyroll

now part of Sony, with engineers in Hyderabad, is the world's largest streaming service for anime, the Japanese style of animation. (More on Sony in the GCC collection.)

DAZN

with engineers in Hyderabad, streams live sport around the world, and builds much of its platform in Hyderabad. Its Indian centre is Dazn India.

Fubo

with engineers in Bengaluru, streams live television and sport in America.

Crunchyroll and DAZN also appear among the companies that build the technology behind streams. (More on both in Market Segment 32.2, Video streaming technology.)

Indian channels and platforms

YuppTV Inc.

with engineers in Hyderabad, streams Indian television channels to Indians living abroad. It also builds streaming platforms for other companies.

ZEE - Technology & Innovation

with engineers in Bengaluru, is the technology centre of the ZEE group. It builds ZEE's streaming service and its ad technology.

One company covered mainly in another Market Segment also works here:

Giramille

with engineers in Bengaluru, makes shows and songs for children. (More on it in Market Segment 32.3, VFX studios and media production technology.)

Netflix, Zee5, SonyLIV, MX Player and Tata Play are not covered in this Market Segment. Amazon's Prime Video is covered elsewhere. (More on it in Amazon, in the big-tech collection.) Warner Bros. Discovery, The Walt Disney Co and Sony Pictures Networks run their own engineering centres in India. (More on them in the GCC collection.)

Live streams, short dramas and audio

Live streaming with social games, game streaming, micro-dramas, audio stories

Live streams and short dramas

Eloelo

with engineers in Bengaluru, runs live streams in which hosts chat, sing and play social games with their audiences. The audiences pay the hosts in virtual gifts. Eloelo also makes short dramas, filmed upright for the phone.

Watching games

Loco

with engineers in Bengaluru, and Rooter.gg, with engineers in Delhi, are Indian platforms for watching people play games live, and for esports tournaments.

One company covered mainly in another Market Segment also works here:

Kuku FM

with engineers in Bengaluru, streams audio stories in Indian languages. (More on it in Market Segment 33.5, Audio entertainment and storytelling apps, in Industry Vertical 33, News, publishing and social media.)

The drama made for the phone.

Short dramas, filmed upright, with episodes a minute or two long and paid for one by one, grew from China into a global business in a few years. Indian apps are now making them in Hindi and regional languages. AI models are writing, dubbing and even generating the scenes. A genre built for speed is becoming the first in which much of the production is done by AI.

That is streaming: services that bring films, sport and shows to phones and TVs, and live-stream and audio apps made for the phone. India has one of the largest audiences, and several global services build their technology here.

Who they hire

Who these companies hire, and for what, is on What streaming and broadcast companies hire for.

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